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A trader works on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange on Oct. 30, 2025 in New York.

Angela Weiss | AFP | Getty Images

This is CNBC’s Morning Squawk newsletter. Subscribe here to receive future editions in your inbox.

Here are five key things investors need to know to start the trading day:

1. November kicks off

Today’s opening bell will mark the start of a new month of trading, and stock futures are higher before the open. The market is coming off a winning October, as momentum from the artificial intelligence trade continues to help buoy stocks.

Here’s where things stand to kick off November:

  • All three major stock indexes notched gains last month. The S&P 500 added 2.3% in October, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 2.5% and the Nasdaq Composite jumped 4.7%.
  • In addition to the AI trade, signs of thawing trade tensions between the U.S. and China also helped boost stocks last month.
  • On Wednesday, President Donald Trump’s tariffs will come under scrutiny by the Supreme Court, which is set to hear oral arguments in a case that could determine the fate of his trade agenda.
  • Also on deck this week are earnings reports from more than 100 companies, including Palantir, Uber, AMD and McDonald’s. Check out The Daily Dividend below for more reports we’re watching.
  • More than 300 companies listed on the S&P 500 have already reported third-quarter results. More than 80% have beaten Wall Street’s expectations, according to FactSet.
  • November has historically been the strongest month for the S&P 500, typically rising 1.8%, according to the Stock Trader’s Almanac.
  • Follow live market updates here.

2. Berkshire’s billions

A screen displays the trading information for Berkshire Hathaway inc. as traders work on the floor at the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) in New York City, U.S., October 22, 2025.

Brendan McDermid | Reuters

Berkshire Hathaway‘s cash hoard grew to a new high of $381.6 billion with no buybacks, the company reported on Saturday, topping its previous record of $347.7 billion set earlier this year. CEO Warren Buffett did not repurchase any shares of the Omaha-based conglomerate despite the fact that its stock has fallen by double-digits since May, when Buffett announced that he’s stepping down.

Berkshire reported $13.485 billion in operating profit from its wholly owned businesses in the third quarter, a 34% increase from the same period a year ago. A 200% surge in income from Berkshire’s insurance underwriting business helped boost the company’s gains. Overall, the company’s earnings rose 17% year over year to $30.8 billion.

3. (Ad)vantage

Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella speaks at Microsoft Build AI Day in Jakarta, Indonesia, on April 30, 2024.

Adek Berry | AFP | Getty Images

While investors had mixed feelings about Big Tech’s earnings reports last week, the members of the Magnificent Seven who reported all topped the Street’s revenue expectations for their latest quarters. One particular bright spot: online ad revenue.

Meta, Amazon, Alphabet and Microsoft all reported strong sales numbers in their digital advertising businesses — a sign that economic uncertainty has yet to negatively affect ad budgets, as many feared it might. There are also no signs of Big Tech’s AI spending slowing down. The four tech giants collectively expect capital expenditure, or capex, spending to exceed $380 billion this year.

AI will allow Microsoft to grow its headcount “with a lot more leverage,” CEO Satya Nadella said on a podcast aired Friday. Nadella said the company will expand its employee count again after its workforce remained unchanged in the 2025 fiscal year.

4. SNAP back?

A resident pushes a cart filled with donated food items at New York Common Pantry in New York, US, on Friday, Oct. 31, 2025.

Adam Gray | Bloomberg | Getty Images

A federal judge on Friday ruled that the Trump administration must use emergency funds to pay for SNAP food benefits during the ongoing government shutdown. The administration was set to cut off the benefits, which help feed 42 million Americans, on Nov. 1.

The Rhode Island judge ordered the benefits to be paid out of emergency funds “as soon as possible.” Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent told CNN on Sunday that the administration would not appeal the ruling, and that locating funds to pay for SNAP by Wednesday “could be done.”

The lapse in SNAP benefits is only the latest casualty of the shutdown, which is nearing the five-week mark.

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5. GLP-1 competition heats up

Containers of Ozempic and Wegovy seen at Children’s Hospital in Aurora, CO, Nov. 18, 2024.

Kevin Mohatt | The Washington Post | Getty Images

Eli Lilly and Novo Nordisk have a hold on the market for weight loss and diabetes drugs — for now.

As CNBC’s Annika Kim Constantino reports, a new slate of drugmakers are vying for a slice of what some analysts estimate could be a $100 billion market by 2030. And as they face hurdles accessing Eli Lilly’s Mounjaro and Zepbound and Novo Nordisk’s Ozempic and Wegovy, patients are continuing to turn to cheaper drugs that are copycats of the more expensive branded medications.

But the two dominant pharma firms are hoping to fend off potential competitors. Constantino reports that Eli Lilly and Novo Nordisk are both focusing on increasing supply and convenience, and testing new uses for their drugs. Novo Nordisk, which trails Eli Lilly in market share, is hoping its new CEO will help launch a turnaround for the Danish firm. The company’s shares have tumbled in nearly 40% this year, as analysts see its offerings falling behind those of Eli Lilly in terms of safety and efficacy.

The Daily Dividend

Here are the reports and events on our radar this week. Some economic data may not come out as originally scheduled due to the ongoing government shutdown.

— CNBC’s Fred Imbert, Yun Li, Jonathan Vanian, Jordan Novet, Dan Mangan, Lisa Kailai Han and Annika Kim Constantino contributed to this report. Terri Cullen edited this edition.

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Ether falls 7% following a multimillion dollar hack of a decentralized finance protocol

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November 3, 2025

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Ether falls 7% following a multimillion dollar hack of a decentralized finance protocol

Representation of Ethereum, with its native cryptocurrency ether.

Dado Ruvic | Reuters

Ether fell as much as 9% on Monday, slipping below its critical $3,600 support level, shortly after a multimillion dollar hack affected a protocol on the token’s native network. 

The cryptocurrency, which is issued on Ethereum, was last down 6.6% at around $3,600, CoinMetrics data shows. That’s roughly 25% off its high of $4,885 hit on August 22. 

The coin’s tumble came after Ethereum-based decentralized finance protocol Balancer on Monday lost possibly more than $100 million in a hack. The exploit marks the latest in a series of bearish events that have put digital assets investors on tenterhooks over the past few weeks.

In mid-October, U.S. President Donald Trump announced “massive” tariffs on China over its restriction of rare earth exports, kicking off investors’ flight from crypto to risk-off assets such as gold. And although the president later walked back that threat, his comments sparked a sell-off that triggered cascading liquidations of highly leveraged digital asset positions. 

Last week, Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell cautioned investors about expecting future rate cuts, adding to existing bearish market sentiment.     

“These events have put investors on uneasy footing as we roll into November,” Juan Leon, senior investment strategist at Bitwise, told CNBC. “Macro volatility notwithstanding, this October’s drawdown appears to have been a healthy, albeit sharp, de-leveraging event that flushed speculative excess from the market.”

Some stocks linked to digital assets are also coming under pressure. Coinbase shares were down nearly 4%, while Bitcoin treasury firm Strategy edged down more than 1%.   

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Nvidia adds nearly $100B in market cap in a matter of days. Here is what’s going right

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November 3, 2025

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Nvidia adds nearly 0B in market cap in a matter of days. Here is what's going right

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Lambda, Microsoft agree to multibillion-dollar AI infrastructure deal with Nvidia chips

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4 hours ago

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November 3, 2025

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Lambda, Microsoft agree to multibillion-dollar AI infrastructure deal with Nvidia chips

In this photo illustration, a person is holding a smartphone with the logo of US GPU hardware company Lambda Inc. (Lambda Labs) on screen in front of website.

Timon Schneider | SOPA Images | AP

Cloud computing startup Lambda announced on Monday a multibillion-dollar deal with Microsoft for artificial intelligence infrastructure powered by tens of thousands of Nvidia chips.

The agreement comes as Lambda benefits from surging consumer demand for AI-powered services, including AI chatbots and assistants, CEO Stephen Balaban told CNBC’s “Money Movers” on Monday.

“We’re in the middle of probably the largest technology buildout that we’ve ever seen,” Balaban said. “The industry is going really well right now, and there’s just a lot of people who are using ChatGPT and Claude and the different AI services that are out there.”

Balaban said the partnership will continue the two companies’ long-term relationship, which goes back to 2018.

A specific dollar amount was not disclosed in the deal announcement.

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Founded in 2012, Lambda provides cloud services and software for training and deploying AI models, servicing over 200 thousand developers, and also rents out servers powered by Nvidia’s graphics processing units.

The new infrastructure with Microsoft will include the NVIDIA GB300 NVL72 systems, which are also deployed by hyperscaler CoreWeave, according to a release.

“We love Nvidia’s product,” Balaban said. “They have the best accelerator product on the market.”

The company has dozens of data centers and is planning to continue not only leasing data centers but also constructing its own infrastructure as well, Balaban said.

Earlier in October, Lambda announced plans to open an AI factory in Kansas City in 2026. The site is expected to launch with 24 megawatts of capacity with the potential to scale up to over 100 MW.

OpenAI signs $38B deal with Amazon: Here's what to know

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